Author of this recipe

Let's make a salad with a mixture of rice (white, red, wild and brown). Wild rice salads are ideal for macrobiotic diets and these salads can harness all the nutritional and health benefits.

I suggest a wild rice salad with mango, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, rocket, and a mustard vinaigrette with a little Asian twist.

The Asian touch comes from a mixture of spices that can be found in supermarkets, such as Szechuan pepper, sea salt and chili. If you do not like spicy foods, you can omit the Asian spices, particularly the chili.

We can also add some dried fruit, such as raisins, or nuts to this salad, and it will look and taste great. You can even try adding red onion, or whatever else you like; salads always allow for millions of possibilities!

I am sure you will love the unique mix of flavour, and this very original way of preparing new salads. Love live #salading!

Preparation

Boil the wild rice in a saucepan with plenty of salted water and a few drops of olive oil, at least 30 minutes or until tender.

Once cooked, drain in a colander and rinse with cold running water to stop the cooking, and set aside to cool.

Cut the cucumber, cherry and mango into cubes.

Chop the rocket in medium sized pieces.

Prepare the vinaigrette in a small bowl, mixing the mustard, oil and vinegar well, and adding some Asian spices (chili, Szechuan pepper and sea salt). If you do not have these at home, just use normal salt and pepper.

Tips from the author

Wild rice takes longer to cook than normal, because this black, unhulled, long grain is not rice! It is actually the seed of an aquatic plant common in North America. So given the resemblance, we commonly call it "wild rice".

It is most often found mixed with white rice in most supermarkets. The problem with this is that white rice needs about 20 minutes of cooking, while wild rice requires almost twice that, so either the white rice is overcooked or the wild rice is still underdone.

It is best to cook it, let it cool and then combine with everything you want to make your salad. Since it usually requires at least 30 minutes of cooking, add plenty of liquid to your saucepan (either water or vegetable broth).